Slot: Bournemouth More Intense Than Arsenal in EPL Race

Arne Slot’s side beat Arsenal in a Premier League title race last season (Picture: Getty)

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has named two Premier League teams who he feels are more ‘intense’ to play against than Arsenal .

The Gunners finished as top-flight runners-up to Liverpool last term and both sides look set to be in a title race again in the 2025-26 campaign.

The new Premier League season gets underway on Friday as current champions Liverpool host Andoni Iraola’s AFC Bournemouth at Anfield.

The Cherries finished ninth in the top-flight last time around and Slot has declared the south coast club are ‘probably the most intense team in the league’ – ahead of Newcastle United in second and Arsenal in third.

‘Bournemouth were probably [the] most intense team in the league [last season], for running,’ Slot said in Thursday’s pre-match press conference.

‘Then Newcastle and Arsenal, which sums up this league. Bournemouth are intense.

‘We won 3-0 at Anfield [last season] but if you look at the game, they scored, which was fractionally offside.

AFC Bournemouth are hoping to produce a shock result on Friday night (Picture: Getty)

‘And then three times we were very fast in moving the ball back to forward and at half-time we were 3-0 up.

‘In Holland, I think that is 5-0, but they kept going after half-time and that is their mentality.

‘Away [at the Vitality Stadium] it was even more difficult, so [they are a] very good team and manager.’

Arsenal ranked low for sprints last season (Picture: BBC/Opta)

According to Opta statistics, Bournemouth and Tottenham were the most physical teams in the 2024-25 Premier League season in terms of the distance they covered and the number of sprints they performed.

Newcastle and Brighton also performed high in both metrics – but not as high as the Cherries and Spurs.

Arsenal ranked high for distance covered – but were one of the lowest teams in the league in terms of the number of sprints they performed.

Meanwhile, Liverpool boss Slot was also quizzed about Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi and Parma’s Giovanni Leoni in his press conference.

It is reported that Liverpool are set to complete a £30m transfer deal for Leoni , although Manchester United have made a late attempt to hijack the move.

Liverpool have been strongly linked with a move for Guehi before the summer transfer window closes too.